Samsung announced at CES 2011 that it is planning to develop a Blu-ray player and a set-top device, which are compatible with Google TV. The product is scheduled for a launch around June 2011. There will be a remote with the equipment with a QWERTY keyboard. It will allow voice searching through an inbuilt microphone. The new Blu-ray player and companion box were made available for testing throughout CES 2011.
Samsung Electronics on January 7, 2011 came together with Sony, Vizio and Logitech as one of the hardware partners for Google TV. Sony, currently selling Google TV-loaded sets and Blu-ray players, and Logitech selling just a companion box loaded with Google TV were a competition to the Samsung Blu-ray companion, while Vizio also showcased the Google TV sets and Blu-ray players at CES. Samsung is making available new Android-based smartphones as well as tablets to operate the Google TV appliances through a built-in IR blaster with a universal remote control application. Google TV is the search engine’s Android-based platform which will allow buyers to surf the Web through the Google Chrome browser while managing the television and DVR content with one interface that is coming with complete search and applications.
The users can for instance, watch a game of football and then open up a Web browser while they continue to watch the game in a small dual window facility which they can move around on the TV screen. According to people, reports of hardware delays were not true and were blown out of proportions, while Google is on track for releasing a special Android software development kit. This can be used by Google TV which enables its developers to write the applications for a larger screen. Much has been contemplated by the crowd at the CES Show and it remains to be seen how well is the product of Blu-ray player and companion box which supports Google TV.
